Second Life successor in development

Second Life has been adopted for many uses over its 11 year history, including as a virtual classroom for educational institutions.

Development on a spiritual successor to social-focussed MMO Second Life is underway at Linden Lab.

According to a statement from the developer sent to New World Notes, the sequel is a ‘next generation virtual world that will be in the spirit of Second LIfe’. Like its predecessor, the focus will be on giving users the ability to create items and buildings around them.

The priority for the studio is to work on a new next generation platform as opposed to continuing legacy support for Second Life and as a result backwards compatibility from the previous game is not one of Linden Lab’s priorities. Despite this, players will be able to bring some content across and Second Life itself is not being shut down.

’If we had one message to share with Second LIfe users about this new project at this point, it would be: don’t panic, get excited!’ said a Linden Lab spokesperson. ’’ Second Life isn’t going away, nor are we ceasing out work to improve it. But we’re also working on something that we think will truly fulfill the promise of virtual worlds that few people understand as well as Second Life users.’

Linden Lab is currently actively hiring for work on this new project and the majority of the studio’s existing development resources are allegedly already assigned to the sequel.

Second Life first launched in 2003 and alongside being used as a 3D virtual chat room, the MMO has been the location for virtual classrooms for educational organisations, meeting spaces for business, virtual embassies for various countries, and even virtual churches for a range of faiths.

Last month, Linden Lab announced that it was working to integrate Oculus Rift support with Second Life and that beta testing has already started.